Upstaged
by Questionablelight
Summary: Edward has been upstaged by a feline cub. Will he adapt to no longer being the only male to hold Bella's devotion? ExB semi one-shot


**_Well, I figured it was about time I got back into writing fictional little snippets. So although this isn't my first, it is my first Twilight fic, and the first I've written in a long, very long time. _**

**_So enjoy! Hopefully you will find the humour in the end, just as I did when I wrote it :)_**

**Upstaged.**

Bella paused, in the precious, tenuous moment between the end of the hunt, and the start of the chase.

In that one moment her senses were attuned unerringly to her prey, to the constant thrum of a heartbeat that drowned out her every thought. The agitated inhalation which dilated her prey's pupils as the animal searched fruitlessly for the cause of its uncertainty. It felt her presence, the unease that all her prey felt before the certainty of death blossomed in their eyes after she attacked.

Bella hesitated for a moment, she felt the animals concern about something else, another entity, another being. But her instincts were too strong, she was too far gone to utilise her inhuman control over her actions, and there was nothing to distract her from the hunt. Her instincts drove her forth, this was what she was _made_ to be. Every taunt line in her body was precisely honed to infinite strength and ability, she was the _hunter._ Her prey, her prey was the hunted, just like it was defined when the first Vampire was created.

The blood, flowing thickly, through warm veins called out to her senses like a siren singing sailors to their death. The tempo of an afraid heart, skittering along at a frightening speed, the human in Bella determined that she ended it quickly, almost painlessly. Animal cruelty was not one of her strong points.

Slowly she inhaled the scent of the mountain lion, drawing on the hunger the smell created, she was hungry, and here was her feast. It forced her to move, to sate the thirst.

A growl shattered the silence. A heartbeat increased its frantic tempo, as if that would save it.

In a blurred movement it was finished. The constant need in the back of her throat satisfied as she drained the limp carcass of its life giving warmth. Blood, it gave the living life, and it gave her strength.

It gave her the strength to let living humans live, the only justification she could find for killing the animal. She hunted only when she needed to, never seeming to get the same thrill of the hunt which drove the others of her coven, _her kind. _

Seconds later the knowledge she was no longer alone to draw the last vestiges of her need from the now growing cold body brought her from the hunt. The pitiful mew of a child calling to its mother over-ridding her instinct to hunt. The instinct to protect instead took over, to mother the orphan she had unwittingly created in her need to hunt.

Horrified, she tried to shield her kill from the small cub, like a guilty child whom had destroyed her mother's only photo of her parents. Bella had never had to deal with this before, never had to face the reality of what she did, face the consequences of leaving behind an abandoned cub to hopelessly nuzzle the carcass of his dead mother. A cub that was so worried about abandonment, about being alone would bravely fight the instinct to run from her kind, in order to share her warmth.

Bella would have to take it home.

The was no question, just the ring of undeniable certainty she would have to bring the small child home. He was hers now, just like she was his. It reminded her of the moment where she had first held Renesmee, Jacob had spoke of imprinting. The first bond between mother and daughter, had been an imprint of sorts, a tie which would hold them together for eternity even when said daughter was now happily married.

The cub made as if to move off, and Bella snarled a warning stopping the young animal in his tracks. He obeyed her completely. Gently she lifted him up, cradling his small furry head against the hollow of her neck, purring low, comforting sounds that had him relax when in that moment he should have fought her to survive. A long withstanding evolutionary edict was being broken, just as she had broken it as a teenager falling in love with the hunter.

With maternal instinct driving her forward she ran home, needing to warm the chilled body that she now held within her embrace. Needing to hear his warm purr which would replace the horror she felt at orphaning the cub. She would deal with the rest of her coven later, now she had to fret about the small life she had taken responsibility of in the moment his mother had become her prey.

--

Edward found them hours later, his wife's arms encircling what seemed to be a mountain lion cub he acknowledged in astonishment. Never since he had met his beautiful, if somewhat different wife had she failed to amaze him. Just when he thought that he understood her, she changed, or she did something which showed him a whole new depth of character, a new facet of the one being that was Bella Cullen.

He knew she wasn't sleeping, a pastime he almost missed since her thoughts were constantly guarded from him. He had enjoyed hearing her little snippets of conversation whilst in her human form she slept. Therefore, he could only assume that she was so deeply involved in the cub that she hadn't noticed his presence.

Never had he thought he could be upstaged by a cub, a mere animal his wife had clearly found somewhere today.

_God only knows where_.

'Bella' he whispered, 'I'm home hun'.

Instantly he was chastised into silence. 'Be quiet, _he's sleeping!_'

Bella moved then, glaring at him whilst she untangled herself from the cubs limbs, tucking the tattered remains of one of Renesmee's blankets around the small body. Edward almost grinned then, laughing at the way Bella treated the cub, if it wasn't for the chilling look Bella was still giving him.

This woman could kill by look alone, let alone use the venom contained within her.

'Bella wha-', he never finished the question, the glare his beloved wife was giving him grew impossibly colder with every syllable he uttered. He stood there confused, feeling as though he really was stupid for the first time in his existence. For the life of him, Edward couldn't figure out what he was missing. Still feeling stupid he blindly followed the figure of his wife, feeling her anger rolling off her tense body in waves.

'He is ours.' She said the moment she turned around.

Edward just stood there.

'He is ours'. Her repeated words were so final, there was no room for argument, and she certainly didn't allow one before going back into their bedroom.

And Edward still just stood there. Three little words, said so little, but held a wealth of meaning he didn't understand. Yet one thing he did know.

He, Edward Cullen, a Vampire, was sleeping on the couch tonight.

--

**_So there it is folks. There will be more at some point, I have an infinite source of experience to draw these situations from so lets just leave it as a good thing my Boyfriend can understand the bond between a girl and her cat. This is for you Chris :D_**

**_Review? Please? :)_**


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